


knives after class

by goldfynches



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: F/F, First Meetings, High School, Internalized Misogyny, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Smoking, The Waitress Has a Name (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Underage Smoking, copious use of the word fuck, it's charlotte :)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:08:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26307577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldfynches/pseuds/goldfynches
Summary: “yeah. charlotte kramer.” the girl - charlotte - held a hand out for the cigarette, and dee passed it over, “only took you three years to ask.”
Relationships: Dee Reynolds/The Waitress (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	knives after class

**Author's Note:**

> title from becky by be your own pet
> 
> i love these ladies. chaotic as fuck. kiss pls.
> 
> this could be seen as some less depressing companion piece to the townie 'verse, they happen around the same time.
> 
> posted specifically for the macdennis den xo

God, they were such fucking assholes. They were such fucking assholes, and they were the worst, and  _ why wouldn’t her goddamn lighter work? _

Dee had heard them whispering all afternoon, talking about hanging out back at the house, laughing at each other’s stupid jokes, cutting her off sharply every time she’d tried to join in. Sure, she was used to that shit, but it stung every time. That sting, however, was nothing compared to them racing across the football field, knowing the stupid, ugly fucking brace meant she couldn’t run after them, Dennis taking special care to turn back and flip her off as he went.

_ Fucking assholes _ .

Letting out a loud noise of frustration, she threw down her little pink Bic lighter, stamping her foot.

The guys were the worst. And it was worse that she  _ wanted  _ to hang out with them. Sure, they were stupid and gross, but they could be funny, and watching their dumb ideas blow up in their faces never got old.

Mac and Charlie weren’t  _ her  _ friends, they were Dennis’ - and he wasn’t her friend either, sometimes she was sure he’d rather she didn’t exist at all. They were better than Ingrid, with her watery eyes and weak attempts at conversation. Ingrid sucked. Girls sucked. Her mom had given her countless pieces of “wisdom” - amongst  _ you’re already challenged enough, darling, don’t make it harder by getting fat  _ and  _ don’t smile like that, you look braindead  _ and  _ work hard, Deandra, you’ve got no chance of marrying rich  _ \- about girls being catty and bitchy and conniving. Girls sucked. More than the guys sucked.

Dee stared down at her lighter, blush pink in the dirt, too low down for her to lean over and grab when she was wearing the back brace. She let out another yell as she crouched down to pick the damn thing up, struggling to keep her balance.

“Is there someone down here?”

_ Shit. _

“No.” Dee called out, before cringing hard enough to cramp something. God, she was fucking stupid.

There was the sound of sneakers in the dirt, and Dee turned in time to see a girl ducking under the side of the bleachers. The girl caught sight of her and stopped short, blinking. Dee froze, cigarette halfway to her lips, fingertips brushing the ground as she tried to scrabble for the goddamn lighter.

She eventually shook it off enough to speak and huffed, “I just-- fuck. I just dropped my lighter.”

“Oh.” The girl took a shuffling step forward, “Do… Do you-- Should I get it for you?”

Dee wanted to tell her to fuck off, because this was her spot - technically the guys’ spot, but they weren’t here, they were living it up in  _ her goddamn house  _ \- and she didn’t need an audience for her self pity, but the brace was heavy and she’d fallen over in the fucking thing enough to know it hurt.

“Yeah.” She said eventually, quiet, almost through gritted teeth, as she straightened up again.

The girl was quick to dart forward and grab it, and Dee was seething all over again at how easy it was for her. She held it out, Dee took it without thanks and  _ finally  _ lit her cigarette.

“Bad day?” The girl asked, gesturing to the cigarette.

Oh. So the chick was here to stay. Dee fought not to roll her eyes as she took a drag and promptly coughed at the burn in her throat.

“Just my asshole brother and his friends.” 

“Dennis doesn’t seem like an asshole.”

Dee’s eyes narrowed, and she looked the girl up and down. Unassuming, unremarkable. 

“How do you know Dennis is my brother?” She asked sharply.

The girl’s expression twisted a little, eyebrows furrowed, mouth downturned.

“Is that a joke?” When there was no answer from Dee, she pressed forward, “I sit next to you in Trig. I have for, like, years, dude.”

Dee blinked slowly, and took another drag - which she managed a lot more stylishly this time. The recognition slowly dawned on her. A figure at a desk hunched over a worksheet, blonde hair falling and hiding her face. Chipped nail polish on a hand lending her a pencil. A frustrated whisper because question four was a pain in the ass. 

“Oh, shit.”

“Yeah.” The girl scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“It’s… Kramer, right?”

“Yeah. Charlotte Kramer.” The girl -  _ Charlotte  _ \- held a hand out for the cigarette, and Dee passed it over, “Only took you three years to ask.”

“Well, it’s not like I’m just asking people their names.” Dee huffed.

Charlotte didn’t cough as she puffed away on Dee’s cigarette, and Dee could feel the jealousy prickling under her skin. She glanced away, looking out the individual little diamonds of the wire fence opposite.

“What’d he do?” Charlotte asked, nudging Dee as she passed back the cigarette.

“Who?”

“Dennis. And his friends.”

Dee shrugged, flicking the ash off the end of the cigarette, “They’re just dicks. They’re probably having  _ so  _ much fun at  _ my fucking house _ right now, without me.”

“That sucks.” Charlotte hummed, slipping her hands into the pockets of her jeans, “You should, like, take your friends over to your house, you know? Totally ruin their thing.”

_ Sure, she could totally bring Ingrid around her mother, say she was her only fucking friend in the whole school and endure that bullshit for months _ . The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth, cutting through the acrid burn of tobacco. She took another drag, forcing herself not to choke on it.

“I can’t.” She muttered finally, violently stubbing the cigarette out on the bottom of one of the benches.

Charlotte frowned, “How come?”

“None of your fucking business.” Dee hissed.

Charlotte refused to flinch at Dee’s tone, and, boy, didn’t that suck all the wind out of her sails. Charlotte was meant to be an easy target for all the stupid frustration burning in her, just so she could get this over with. She’d stop feeling like shit, and she could walk past Dennis’ door and pretend she couldn’t hear them all laughing at some bullshit without her. 

“Who am I gonna tell your business to, Dee? I sat next to you for three years and you didn’t even remember me.” Charlotte sighed.

Dee kept her fists clenched, all of her tense, as she sized Charlotte up. Still as unassuming and unremarkable, but now she knew her name. It wasn’t like Dee had seen her hanging around with a pack of friends outside class, or laughing at some crowded lunch table. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen Charlotte outside that classroom ever. The only thing she had going for her was that she could smoke.

Sighing heavily, Dee looked down at her shoes, kicking pathetically at the dirt.

“I don’t have friends.” She mumbled.

There was no jeer or smart comment from Charlotte, or some stupid mask of pity that she put on because she was uncomfortable. Instead, she held out a hand.

“Me neither.”

Dee took a long moment, staring at Charlotte’s bitten nails, as if weighing up her options. Her first instinct was to laugh the offer away, roll her eyes and push past Charlotte. She’d pretend this thing never happened. She couldn’t bring home a girl who looked like she was dressed head to toe in fucking K-Mart, her mom would throw a fit and she’d never hear the end of it. And she would keep being the girl who had to trail after her brother’s friends because she didn’t have any of her own.

_ Screw it. _

She shook Charlotte’s hand firmly. 

Charlotte smiled, giving Dee’s hand a squeeze before letting go. Dee felt… Warm. She shoved the feeling down.

“So…” Charlotte’s smile took on a little mischievous edge, “Are we gonna go screw things over for your brother and his asshole friends or what?”

Dee couldn’t help her own grin. 

**Author's Note:**

> this is on the shorter side, but i might write some more deetress in the future? who knows. no promises.
> 
> comments and kudos are class!


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